Verizon's Unlimited plan: Everything you need to know

Verizon's Unlimited plan: Everything you need to know

A complete breakdown of Verizon's Unlimited plan and everything else you can get when you sign up for service.

In the United States, there are a lot of companies that can get you and your phone online, but most people use one of the four biggest: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Choosing between them can be difficult. Your first priority should be what service works best in the places you spend your time. It's not worth saving $10 a month if the service is bad. Once you have that sorted, you can look at what each company has to offer and the prices they charge for it.

More: Which unlimited plan should you buy?

Let's take a look at Verizon to see what they can give you and what it will cost.

Verizon Unlimited plan details

• Unlimited talk, text, and data
• Unlimited HD streaming video (see Verizon's Video Optimization Deployment page)
• Unlimited mobile hotspot
• Add a tablet with unlimited data for $20 per month
• Add a connected device for $5 per month
• Unlimited calling and texting to and from Canada and Mexico
• Up to 500MB per day of full-speed data in Canada and Mexico

Verizon's definition of unlimited data means that after you use 22 GB in a single month, your service can be slowed down if you're in a congested area. You'll hear the word throttled used here but you need to know that it's only a temporary deprioritization of your data connection when you're in a busy area. It may not happen at all depending on how many other customers are using the same towers.

Verizon gives you all the details and fine print on its website, though you might have to dig around to find them.

Verizon links you to all of the fine print right from your cart when you sign up for the unlimited plan. In that fine print you'll see how Verizon takes steps to protect itsnetwork. Data services, both on-device and through tethering can not be used for illegal activities, anything that violates trade or economic sanctions, any type of server, email auto-responders or bots and sending malware. They also let you know that they can and will be monitoring your usage to make sure you comply. All service providers have the same restrictions, but Verizon takes the time to present them so well we wanted to give them a shout out.

Additional lines can be added to a Verizon Unlimited plan. Every line has the same benefits outlined above and requires an equipment purchase. Here is a pricing breakdown.

• One line of service is $80
• Two lines of service is $140
• Three lines of service is $160
• Four lines of service is $180
• Five lines of service is $200

Verizon Unlimited plan add-ons

Verizon's Unlimited plan lets you call and text to Canada and Mexico, and lets you call and text from Canada and Mexico back to the States at no additional carge. It also allows you to use up to 500MB per day in each country at no additional charge, after which it is throttled to 2G speeds. The company does keep an eye on how much data you're using, though: if more than 50% of your data in a given month comes from outside the U.S., Verizon will slow down your speeds and holds the right to cut off service.

If you need other international services, Verizon has you covered.

• The free International Messaging add-on lets you send text messages to over 200 countries and multimedia messages to over 100 countries
• The Unlimited Together - North America add-on gives you discounted calling rates to over 230 locations for $5 per month
• The Unlimited Together - world add-on gives you discounted calling rates to over 180 locations for $15 per month
• A daily Travel Pass gives you unlimited data and calling when you're in one of over 100 countries for $10 per day
• A monthly Travel Pass gives you discounted calling and messaging rates as well as a data alotment based on your needs (prices vary, see Verizon's International Travel page)
• Cruise ship rates are $2.99 per minute for voice calls and $0.50 per message sent / $0.05 per message received for texting.

Verizon also has a program that gives you a prepaid card of up to $650 in value for a trade in if you switch from another network. The details are on the Switch to Verizon page of its website. It also has a referral program and a rewards program that can put money back in your pockets.

If you're both a Verizon Wireless and Verizon Fios subscriber, you can use the Fios Mobile App to watch your shows from home without using your data.

It also offers a wide range of its own services, including its own RCS messaging app, a personal cloud and an excellent account management app. You can find them in Google Play.

See at Verizon

Update, July 2017: This article has been updated with all the latest information on Verizon's unlimited plan.